Jermain Defoe believes maturity will curb fellow Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos of his volatility.
The 22-year-old Colombia international saw red for the fifth time this season for an off-the-ball elbow on Celtic skipper Scott Brown in the Gers’ 2-1 defeat at Parkhead on Sunday.
Morelos, who has scored 29 goals this season and had one of his early red cards this campaign downgraded, posted an apology on his Twitter account on Monday and accepted a club fine.
Morelos served the first of a four-game ban in the 3-0 home win against Hearts on Wednesday night which gave 36-year-old Defoe the chance of a run in the team and the on-loan Bournemouth striker – who has won 57 England caps – insists experience is key to staying trouble free.
The former West Ham, Tottenham and Sunderland player said: “You think about the best forwards, I mean Wayne Rooney had a little bit of that when he was young. I think it was a part of growing up.
“As you get older you become more experienced and you realise you don’t need to get involved.
“What I would say is that when you are a threat, a top player, defenders don’t want to play against you, they try to provoke you and sometimes you react.
“I had a little bit of that at West Ham when I was young. I used to get involved and got sent off a few times and as you get older, you try to switch off and try to focus on the game and scoring goals.
“I just wanted to stay on the pitch, (get) opportunities to score goals, it was as simple as that.
“Even last night, Alfredo was in the changing room and you could see his body language.
“He was gutted that he couldn’t be involved because he loves football, he is an international, he is a goal scorer, he wants to play, he wants to score goals.
“He has scored 29 goals, he could finish the season with 30-plus, of course he is going to be frustrated. Of course he will learn.
“With Alfredo, in time he will blank it out and become better at that.”
